Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond rose to deliver his Spring Statement to the House of Commons at 12.42pm today.

Mr Hammond said that Tuesday's vote to reject the EU Withdrawal Agreement "leaves a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the economy" and his most urgent task is to lift it.

Mr Hammond said he will decide in the Spending Review later this year how to share the proceeds from any "Deal Dividend", if the UK leaves the EU with a deal, between increased spending on public services, capital investment and keeping taxes low.

The Chancellor said the Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast growth of 1.2% this year - a downgrade from the 1.6% forecast at the Budget in 2018.

The OBR forecast growth of 1.2% this year, 1.4% next year and 1.6% in the following three years.

Mr Hammond said: "Cumulative growth over the five years is now slightly higher than the Budget forecast."

Here's our guide to the Spring Statement at a glance.

Brexit warning

Mr Hammond warned that the country's economic progress will be at risk in a no-deal Brexit, and said he was "confident" that the Commons will agree a smooth and orderly EU withdrawal "over the coming weeks".

Mr Hammond told MPs: "A no-deal Brexit would deliver a significant short- to medium-term reduction in the productive capacity of the British economy. And because our economy is operating at near full capacity, any fiscal and monetary response would have to be carefully calibrated not to simply cause inflation."

Mr Hammond warned of significant disruption in the short term and a "smaller less prosperous economy in the long term" if we don't get a Brexit deal.

Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament on March 12, 2019 in London

The Chancellor warned no deal will mean "higher unemployment", "lower wages" and "higher prices in the shops".

Mr Hammond told MPs: "I need to be straight with the house.

"A no-deal Brexit would deliver a significant short- to medium-term reduction in the productive capacity of the British economy. And because our economy is operating at near full capacity, any fiscal and monetary response would have to be carefully calibrated not to simply cause inflation."

Read More

A £3billion housing fund

Mr Hammond announced a new £3 billion Affordable Homes Guarantee scheme to support delivery of around 30,000 affordable homes and £717 million from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock up to 37,000 new homes on sites in West London, Cheshire, Didcot and Cambridge.

But Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter said: “While this is good news, it has to be noted that we can’t deliver social housing on the scale we need on borrowing alone."

Read More

Free sanitary products

Free sanitary products are to be made available in secondary schools and colleges across England from September.

The measure was announced by Chancellor Philip Hammond in a short Spring Statement on Wednesday.

Addressing MPs, he congratulated those who had campaigned for the provision, adding that Education Secretary Damian Hinds would give further details in due course.

Mr Hammond said: "In response to rising concern by headteachers that some girls are missing school attendance due to inability to afford sanitary products, I have decided to fund the provision of free sanitary products in secondary schools and colleges in England from the next school year."

To tackle period poverty in schools, the Department for Education will lead work to develop a national scheme to ensure the provision of free sanitary products to girls in secondary schools.

A spokesman for the National Association for Head Teachers said they welcomed the move, saying it was "the right thing to do".

However, while the National Education Union (NEU) also welcomed the move, it expressed disappointment that school funding was not addressed.

Joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: "Parents, teachers, heads, school staff and MPs from across the House will be dismayed that the Chancellor did not address the national school funding crisis.

"Philip Hammond's boast that the economy is in recovery prompts the question of why he cannot address the issue of school funding now.

"Following his 'little extras' gaffe last year, it remains the case that the Chancellor is out of touch with the issues schools face on a daily basis.

"There is nothing new for children with SEND (special educational needs and disability) who are not getting adequate provision, nor for teachers who use their own money to resource lessons, or headteachers with difficult decisions to make around the lengths of the school day.

"The Chancellor had an opportunity today to end uncertainty for schools about budget planning. He failed."

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

End to gas boilers

New homes will no longer be heated by gas from 2025, as part of efforts to tackle climate change, the Government has announced.

The Government's advisory Committee on Climate Change recommended ending the connection of new homes to the gas grid by 2025 in a report last month, with super-efficient properties heated with low-carbon energy instead.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has now announced new standards "mandating the end of fossil fuel heating systems in new homes from 2025 delivering lower carbon, and lower fuel bills too".

The move is one of a series of environmental measures unveiled in a short Spring Statement, as he sought to address one of the major concerns of young people ahead of a second school climate strike on Friday.

He also announced the protection of all the waters around Ascension Island in the Atlantic, where no fishing would be allowed.

Mr Hammond outlined a call for evidence on whether travel providers should be required to offer "genuine carbon offsets" for their customers to reduce the pollution from their journeys, and proposals to boost green gas in the grid.

Along with measures on climate change, Mr Hammond also announced that the Government would mandate "biodiversity net gain" for developments in England - to ensure new housing and infrastructure does not hit wildlife.

And a comprehensive global review of the link between biodiversity and economic growth, to be led by Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, emeritus professor of economics at Cambridge, will be launched as part of efforts to stem declines in wildlife.

Campaign group 10:10 Climate Action's director, Max Wakefield, backed the move to end fossil fuel heating in new homes from 2025.

"All our homes and buildings must be made efficient, affordable and zero-carbon within the next two decades to address the climate crisis.

"Ending the scandal of poor quality new homes is a no-brainer that's good for everyone."

Mel Evans, senior campaigner at Greenpeace UK said the plan to end fossil fuels in new homes "is vital" and welcomed the measures to protect wildlife.

But she warned that tackling the climate "emergency" required much bigger thinking.

"Issues like the shoddy state of our existing housing stock and rapid adoption of electric vehicles require serious money behind serious policies," such as banning new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030, she urged.

Dave Timms, from Friends of the Earth, said: "The nation's children are calling out for tough action to cut emissions; Mr Hammond must listen harder to the lesson they're teaching him.

And he said: "The Chancellor should have announced a massive programme of investment in home insulation and public transport, instead of pushing the false solution of carbon off-setting for aviation."

Supercomputer

A £200 million package of funding for science projects including a supercomputer that "might even be able to come up with a solution to the (Brexit) backstop" has been announced in the Chancellor's Spring Statement.

Philip Hammond said that remaining at the forefront of the technology revolution was a "key pillar" of the Government's strategy.

As part of that commitment, the Government is investing £79 million in a powerful new supercomputer called Archer 2, to be housed at the University of Edinburgh.

It will be five times faster than the current supercomputer generation and capable of carrying out 10 thousand trillion calculations per second.

Addressing MPs, Mr Hammond quipped: "I am told that with the right algorithms it might even be able to come up with a solution to the backstop."

A further £45 million from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) would go to Europe's flagship life sciences laboratory, the European Bioinformatics Institute, based at Hinxton, Cambridgeshire.

The institute, located on the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, supplies free information to scientists from DNA and protein databases.

Investing in the institute would ensure "Britain's continued lead in genomics research", said Mr Hammond.

An £81 million investment in an Extreme Photonics Centre in Oxfordshire to develop new types of lasers provided more joke material for the Chancellor.

"Literally the cutting edge of technology, Mr Speaker," he said, to a chorus of groans.

Another move involved relaxing restrictions on scientists from abroad wanting to come to the UK to carry out their work.

Mr Hammond said that from autumn PhD-level roles would be "completely exempt" from visa caps.

Read More

£100m police fund

Police will get a £100 million cash injection to tackle the knife crime crisis, the Chancellor has announced.

The extra funding for forces in England has been earmarked for overtime costs and specialist units dedicated to combating serious violence.

Ministers have come under pressure to provide a financial boost for police following a spate of fatal stabbings.

Total funding for forces in England and Wales reduced by 19% in real terms from 2010/11 and 2018/19, according to the National Audit Office.

Officer numbers have fallen by nearly 20,000 since 2010.

In December, Home Secretary Sajid Javid unveiled a provisional settlement that could see police funding rise by nearly £1 billion from April, including money raised through council tax.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said many police and crime commissioners have already committed to using this extra funding to recruit and train additional officers.

"But that takes time," he said. "And action is needed now."

He said the additional £100 million over the course of the next year will be ring-fenced to pay for additional overtime targeted specifically on knife crime, and to fund new violent crime reduction units to deliver a "wider cross-agency response to this epidemic".

Mr Javid said the money, including £80 million of new funding from the Treasury, will allow police to swiftly crack down on knife crime in areas where it is most rife.

He added: "I am deeply concerned by the rising levels of knife crime that is devastating communities and robbing young people of their lives and futures.

"Law enforcement plays a key role - and it is clear from speaking to police leaders in recent weeks that they need an immediate increase in resources."

Police have someone under arrest (Image: Northcliffe Media)

National Police Chiefs' Council chairwoman Sara Thornton welcomed the announcement.

"Bringing violence down is a police priority. We know what works to bring down violence and this additional funding will help us to increase the number of officers available to carry out targeted patrols in crime hotspots, increase our use of stop and search and disrupt gangs and crime groups."

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said the money does not make up for cuts of £175 million his force has faced, but acknowledged it will "partially cover the extra funding needed in the short-term".

A string of recent deaths have prompted fresh debate over police resources.

Amid mounting calls for action, Theresa May sparked a backlash when she insisted there was "no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers".

Earlier this year it was disclosed that the number of fatal stabbings in England and Wales had risen to its highest level since records started more than 70 years ago.

Official statistics showed there were 285 homicides where the method of killing was by a knife or sharp instrument in the year to March 2018.

This was the highest number since the Home Office's Homicide Index began in 1946.

Read More

At a glance

- Mr Hammond said Tuesday's vote to reject the EU Withdrawal Agreement "leaves a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the economy" and his most urgent task is to lift it.

- Funding totalling an additional £100 million is to be made available immediately to police forces in England to pay for additional overtime targeted on knife crime and new Violent Crime Reduction Units.

- The Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts GDP growth of 1.2% this year, then 1.4% in 2020 and 1.6% for each of the following three years. The OBR expects to see 600,000 new jobs by 2023, with wage growth at 3% or higher in each year of the forecast period.

- Borrowing this year will be 1.1% of GDP - £3 billion lower than forecast at the Autumn Budget. Borrowing will be £29.3 billion in 2019/20, then £21.2 billion, £17.6 billion and £14.4 billion in the following years to reach £13.5 billion in 2023/24 - its lowest level in 22 years.

- The Government remains "on track" to meet both of its fiscal targets early, with the cyclically adjusted deficit at 1.3% next year and falling to 0.5% by 2023/24. Headroom against the fiscal mandate increases from £15.4 billion at the time of the Autumn Budget to £26.6 billion today.

- Debt is forecast to be lower in every year than predicted at the Budget, falling to 82.2% of GDP next year, then 79%, 74.9% and 74% in the following years and 73% in 2023/24.

Video Loading

Video Unavailable

Click to playTap to play

The video will start in 8Cancel

Play now

- Mr Hammond said he will decide in the Spending Review later this year how to share the proceeds from any "Deal Dividend", if the UK leaves the EU with a deal, between increased spending on public services, capital investment and keeping taxes low.

- The Chancellor warned that the country's economic progress will be at risk in a no-deal Brexit, and said he was "confident" that the Commons will agree a smooth and orderly EU withdrawal "over the coming weeks".

- Mr Hammond announced up to £260 million for the Borderlands Growth deal covering the border regions of England and Scotland, and said negotiations are progressing on future deals for mid-Wales and Derry/Londonderry.

- A £700 million package of reforms to help small businesses take on more apprentices, announced in the Autumn Budget, is to be brought forward to the start of the new financial year in April.

- From June, the UK will begin to abolish the requirement for paper landing cards at points of entry to the country and will allow citizens of the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Singapore and South Korea to use e-gates at airports and Eurostar terminals.

- Mr Hammond announced a new £3 billion Affordable Homes Guarantee scheme to support delivery of around 30,000 affordable homes and £717 million from the Housing Infrastructure Fund to unlock up to 37,000 new homes on sites in west London, Cheshire, Didcot and Cambridge.

- Some 445,000 square kilometres of ocean around Ascension Island is to be declared a Marine Protected Area.

- The Government will fund free sanitary products in secondary schools and colleges in England from the next school year.